KUWAIT CITY: In the week that Trinity Leeds becomes a fully tax free shopping centre, industry statistics show that sales from tax free shopping in the city grew by 12.8% in the year to the end of August 2016.
Figures from Premier Tax Free, which manages tourist VAT refunds in 30 countries around the world, showed significant increases in sales from overseas visitors to Leeds.
Tax free sales in Leeds have boomed from visitors from the United Arab Emirates (up 107.6%), Kuwait (62.3%) and Qatar (58.4%). Other big jumps were noted among tourists from Malaysia (93.7%) and the United States (80.9%).
It is thought that the increase in shoppers – which grew by 2.1% year-on-year – is in part due to the increase in both the number, and capacity, of flights from the Middle East to Manchester, as well as the availability of connections from Leeds Bradford airport to the Middle East.
The double-digit growth has been fuelled by a significant increase in the per visit spend, up 10.5% in the year to the end of August 2016.
David Maddison, general manager at Trinity Leeds which is now a fully tax free shopping destination, said: “The knock on from Brexit is that the UK is a more attractive shopping destination for overseas visitors who are literally getting more bang for their buck, euro, dinar, dirham and yuan.
